Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Food Blog Forum Orlando 2013 Recap

I can't believe I've already been home a week since Food Blog Forum Orlando 2013. That was easily one of the best weekends and I wish I could go back again!!

This is the first food blogging conference I have been to, and I am quite afraid that I set the bar a little bit too high; I'm not sure future conferences are going to live up to FBF. I mean, it was held at Disney World after all! Can it actually get any better than that??

We were pretty spoiled the entire weekend. I mean just look at the lobby of our hotel! The Grand Floridian was so gorgeous inside and out!

Photo via Julie

Julie snapped this picture on the monorail on our way to Magic Kingdom.

Photos via Amanda and Audra

I cannot even believe I was able to hang out with all these amazing girls! It was so amazing to meet them all and I cant wait to hang out with them again. It was definitely surreal.

Phew! And then right picture is all us girls again in front of Cinderella's castle in Magic Kingdom!! Rachel, Gina, Megan, Megan, me, Erin, Julie, Amanda, Jenny, Katrina, Tina and Sommer.

The conference didn't officially start until nighttime on Friday, so during the day, we took full advantage of the beautiful weather and the amazing pool with bar. Skinny Coconut Mojitos for the win!!

gorgeous food at the cocktail reception

After a full day in the sun drinking mojitos it was time for the dessert reception, meeting lovely ladies, eating delicious food, and...

drinking more mojitos.

One would think I am obsessed. #nocomment

I was so busy trying to figure out why the plates looked like painter's palates, and balancing all the food, mojitos and my phone, I didn't think to snap pictures of all the ladies I got to meet and hang out with at the cocktail reception.

I was especially sad I didn't get a picture with Jessica of A Kitchen Addiction. After meeting in person finally, I have decided that we need to move closer to each other. Her husband and mine would get along really well we think, and well, we already know the two of us would be great together ;) We will just have to meet up again soon so we can get a picture together Jessica!!

Saturday was filled with conference sessions (including lots of laughter, tears, and a lot of learning), fun giveaways from amazing brands (even though I didn't win at all... ;) ), more amazing food, and of course, meeting more lovely ladies.

The Hair family on the left - Scott, Jaden and their two boys - were so much fun to listen to, learn from and laugh along with. I loved their session about Defining Success. So many take aways from their talk.

It was so amazing hearing all these people talk about their passion - a passion that I share with them. It was such an beautiful experience to be able to learn from and be in a room full of people who love the same things I love and want to gain as much from this field we all love, and to be able to feed off of each other's energy. It was seriously the best girl's weekend I have ever had.

And of course, no girl's weekend would be complete without losing our voices from screaming on the Tower of Terror.

Or having a sugar high from all the sweets from the weekend.

Oddly enough I think the pineapple was my favorite dessert from the weekend. I know, call my crazy. But it was good.

Did I mention that we spent half the weekend in the parks? Yeah that wasn't such a bad deal with the conference. I think from now on, all conferences should take place in Disney World. There would be lots of happy bloggers if they did that!

And getting one extra day in the parks with the BHC5 girls (don't ask) was priceless. And here is what happens when the hotel has happy hour on our last night. Out comes the greasy pizza and crappy alcohol. Never mind that we had to wake up super early to catch our flights, or that we really should have been drinking water after a day in the muggy hot sun. Nope, we wanted the cheap, nasty alcohol. And it was worth every sip.

Longest post ever is finally coming to a close. And I have so many more photos I would love to share too, but as I learned these past few weeks, all good things must come to an end. I wish I could spend every weekend with the amazing ladies and ALWAYS at Disney World, because it is the (second) happiest place on earth (THIS is the happiest place on earth).

Thank you to Jaden, Scott, Diane, Todd, Julie and Lindsay for putting together such a fabulous event at one of the greatest places ever, and for all the hard work you put into it. And for that awesome swag bag too.

When are we all going back?!

If you want to check out some other fabulous recaps of the weekend (and a lot more fun pictures!!), make sure you check out these amazing ladies' posts:

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